Call the Midwife: A True Story of the East End in the 1950s by Jennifer WorthMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Time take to read - 8 days
Publisher - Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Pages - 340
Blurb from Goodreads
An unforgettable story of the joy of motherhood, the bravery of a community, and the hope of one extraordinary woman
At the age of twenty-two, Jennifer Worth leaves her comfortable home to move into a convent and become a midwife in post war London's East End slums. The colorful characters she meets while delivering babies all over London-from the plucky, warm-hearted nuns with whom she lives to the woman with twenty-four children who can't speak English to the prostitutes and dockers of the city's seedier side-illuminate a fascinating time in history. Beautifully written and utterly moving, The Midwife will touch the hearts of anyone who is, and everyone who has, a mother.
My Review
Jennifer Worth takes us through the beginning of her career as a student midwife in the 1950s in London's East End slums. The conditions are brutal, the health risks high, procedures often very different from our advanced medical marvels nowadays. She paints a picture of what life was like back then, both as a worker and the families with expectant mothers and the limited services available.
I could have read this in one sitting had tie permitted, I love reading about medical tales, fiction or true although the true stories tend to give the hair raising on the back of your neck moments. The NHS only came to be in 1948 so it was still relatively new when Worth came into the profession, burning urine to get assistance with diagnosis's compared to now when we send it off to labs or dip it in test strips for a few moments.
She introduces us to some of the families she met and their struggles along the way and how some things don't change despite the times, infidelity, multiple births, family issues. I loved how this book transports you back in time, she paints a such a vivid picture you can imagine yourself experiencing it all along side her. There are two more books in the series, I have the others and will be reading them both, 5/5 for me this time. A great story and you learn as you go, can't recommend it enough!
This book is very popular. It really is striking that transport back into time that seems so different for us really was not all that long ago.
ReplyDeleteLainy, I had not heard much about this book before today. I'm glad you enjoyed it so much. It sounds wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI loved this book too, especially as it was set in a time when I was born in London. Despite the squalid conditions patients were treated like people with doctors and midwives making house calls, unlike the cattle call we have today in the doctor's office.
ReplyDeleteIt's also a series which has been shown on PBS and available on Netflix.
Ann
Loved the series. Now I really must get around to reading the books.
ReplyDelete